Only the contemptible fear contempt.

We may sooner be brought to love them that hate us, than them that love us more than we would have them do.

It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.

To establish ourselves in the world, we have to do all we can to appear established. To succeed in the world, we do everything we can to appear successful.

He who imagines he can do without the world deceives himself much; but he who fancies the world cannot do without him is still more mistaken.

A man convinced of his own merit will accept misfortune as an honor, for thus can he persuade others, as well as himself, that he is a worthy target for the arrows of fate.

No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.